In many instances during computer processing of information, computer data must be converted from one data field type to another. For example, whenever data is passed from one program to another, the data typically goes though several conversions during the process, such as converting from text digits to a binary number.
The typical technique for converting data includes using a generic data conversion routine. When an entire record of data must be converted, the conversion routine must determine what the characteristics or attributes are for each of the data fields in the record. This may require the conversion routine to execute the same decision tree for each field for each record even though each field has known characteristics that do not change on a row by row basis. Therefore, many computer cycles are wasted by asking questions such as “Is this field of type character, integer, etc.?” over and over for each data field.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a system that provides efficient conversion of data fields.